1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for transmitting information indicating whether an equipment is allowed to receive a service in a system in which an allowance of receiving the service is controlled based on environment information of the equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when a service of distributing contents such as films and music is provided from a terminal of a service provider to user terminals via a network, the service is provided after confirming the environment of the user terminal, to ensure the safety of the providing of the service.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-157790 discloses a technique in which it is confirmed by using the terminal of the service provider whether software (in which for example, security holes are not taken care of) or hardware which can damage its safety is incorporated in the user terminal, or hardware which can damage the safety is not connected to the user terminal, by obtaining environment information of the user terminal (information of software (operating system (OS), basic input/output system (BIOS), browser, plug-in software and the like) and hardware (central processing unit (CPU), memory, protocol control information board (PCI) and the like) incorporated in the user terminal, and hardware connected to the user terminal) from the user terminal, and providing of the service is denied with respect to a user terminal that cannot ensure the safety due to a possibility of illegal copies.
In the above conventional art, however, it is difficult for the user to confirm in advance whether the user can receive the service by using his terminal reliably, which is not convenient for the user.
Specifically, it is not easy for users to check what kind of software and hardware is incorporated in their terminal. When it is determined whether to provide the service according to the software and hardware in the terminal, it is important that the users can easily confirm whether they can receive the service, and can purchase or use a terminal with security.
It is also preferable for a vendor who markets terminals to increase the convenience of users. In other words, if users can easily confirm that the terminal marketed by the vendor is a terminal that can receive the service, users can purchase and use the terminal with security.
Furthermore, there is another problem in that the equipment may not operate normally according to the combination of vendor's products to be incorporated in the user terminal (software or hardware). In this case, there is a possibility of illegal copies of contents such as films and music, and hence, the safety of the service cannot be ensured.
It is therefore an important issue as to how to ensure the safety of the service, and how to provide a mechanism in which users can confirm whether the equipment such as the user terminal can receive the service easily and efficiently.